“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”
Haile Selassie

Friday, June 12, 2015

African-American Spokane NAACP Chief Outed as a White Woman

The racial identity of one of the most prominent faces in Spokane, Washington's black community is under question after her parents produced a birth certificate that showed she is white.

Rachel Dolezal, 37, is the head of the local chapter of the NAACP and has identified herself as African-American. But her Montana birth certificate says she was born to two ﻿﻿﻿﻿Caucasian parents, according to CNN affiliate KXLY, which also showed an old family photo in its report.

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Dolezal has represented herself as at least part African-American in an application for the police ombudsman commission.

The CNN story details an exchange a local reporter had with Dolezal in which the NAACP chief was shown a photo of a white man. Dolezal confirmed that was her father. Check mate. The CNN story continues:

"It's very sad that Rachel has not just been herself," Ruthanne Dolezal said. "Her effectiveness in the causes of the African-American community would have been so much more viable, and she would have been more effective, if she had just been honest with everybody," the newspaper quoted her as saying.

Rachel Dolezal

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The story is interesting on so many levels. First, you have the historical angle. In the days of segregation and Jim Crow some light-skinned African-Americans tried to pass as white. For those African-Americans their ancestry was a closely guarded secret. Here you have the reverse of that, a white woman trying to pass as black in apparently an effort to take advantage of what she believes, at least for her, will be financial and personal advantages associated with representing herself as an African-American.

Second, can people be "transracial?" Can a person who is born white identify and live as an African-American and vice versa? I would say "no," but many people on social media discussing Dolezal say otherwise

Third, is Dolezal really the only one who has done this? How many white job applicants check the box saying they're an "African-American" or Hispanic because they think it might give them an advantage? My guess is quite a few. In an age when mixed marriages are common, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell one's background from appearance alone. A white job applicant who claims some other racial or ethnic group has virtually no chance of getting caught.

Finally, by perpetuating the fraud did Dolezal inadvertently strike a blow for Dr. Martin Luther King's dream of a color blind society?

4 comments:

While I do not at all condone the deception played by this Spokane fake-African American, I am reminded of "Fauxahontas" leftist liberal Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren who lied her way to wealth in educational employment and lied her way to political office. Warren remains in her Senate seat to this day. Recall that for twenty five years Elizabeth Warren chalked herself up as a tribe member of the North American Indians without a shred of real evidence to three separate employers including the Harvard Law School; across a two year period this elitist far left of center liberal Democrat collected over $700,000 in compensation for teaching and consulting fees. Elizabeth Warren, who excelled at buying distressed properties and flipping them for significantly more money than she paid during the real estate boom when middle class American blue collared and professionals were losing their homes and all their assets, is reputedly worth about $15 Million.

If you are a left liberal Democrat there are double standards; let's see how liberals' separate and unequal rules about dishonesty affect this Spokane woman.

You raise an interesting point, Paul. I was born & raised in Panama & am bilingual; I identify as Hispanic but am part Chinese, German, Italian, Scotts-Irish &, yes -- as I often tell my friends -- 1/16 Cherokee. My kids were born & raised in the USA & speak only English. By ethnicity, they are undoubtedly Hispanic, Asian, German, Scotts-Irish, Polish, Italian & Slovenian & 1/32 Cherokee. Of course, for scholarship or college applications, we'll list the kids as Hispanic if it's economically beneficial. As a technical point, they're more Hispanic than most American Hispanics because they're the direct offspring of person born in Panama. As a "cultural" matter, they're no more Hispanic than anybody else.

My point is that ethnicity (and now perhaps race) are not necessarily dictated by birth. If a white woman like Rachel Dolezal wishes to self-identify as Black, there's no legal bar (to my knowledge) against it, nor should there be. Similarly, any "cultural bar" seems to have fallen as well, given her success within the Black community.

About Me

I have been an attorney since the Fall of 1987. I have worked in every branch of government, including a stint as a Deputy Attorney General, a clerk for a judge on the Indiana Court of Appeals, and I have worked three sessions at the Indiana State Senate.
During my time as a lawyer, I have worked not only in various government positions, but also in private practice as a trial attorney handing an assortment of mostly civil cases.
I have also been politically active and run this blog in an effort to add my voice to those calling for reform.